Day 4 – Bangkok by Bicycle

Thursday, July 6, 2023 – Kelsey & Lindsey, gave us an anniversary gift of a Tinggly gift card that could be used for an excursion on our trip. We decided to use it for a day long bicycle tour of Bangkok with Amazing Bangkok Cyclist. Our small group of 5 was led on a tour of various parts of Bangkok we would have not seen otherwise. It was a great way to see the city.

The first rest stop included a stand where a gentleman sold deep fried bananas and sweet potato balls. Both were delicious, especially the sweet potato balls that tasted like light fluffy doughnut holes.

We then biked through some back streets and neighborhoods, which was great because we avoided some of the very busy Bangkok traffic and saw things we never would have found on our our own. We suddenly came into a really large street market where vendors sold everything from produce to live animals and fish that were slaughtered on the spot. The market was crowded as people bustled by to get their various items.

After walking our bikes through the market we made a quick rest stop by a neighborhood temple before we boarded a boat to cross the river to Bangkachao, a peninsula created by the river winding around a stomach-shaped piece of land. When you arrive it feels like a tropical island. Bangkachao is filled with banana and coconut groves. It is a little rural oasis in the middle of the busy, bustling Bangkok. Once in Bangkachao we followed a zig zagging series of 3ft wide concrete raised sidewalks that led us around the area…a bit of a biking challenge but no one landed in the murky water below.

The tour included lunch at a small local restaurant then we started our trip back along the narrow sidewalks to the boat, and biking back through Bangkok. Going back we took a more direct route on busy streets which gave us a taste of what it is like to drive one of the many scooters in the city. This is not for the faint of heart! The scooters constantly weave through traffic and as you will see in my photo, they all line up at the front of an intersection when waiting for the traffic light to change.

During our tour we enjoyed talking with Mr. Ed, our fearless leader, Gabriel and Vivian, a nice young couple from Switzerland, and Priscilla from the Netherlands. It was the perfect size group to explore together while having conversations. Gabriel enjoyed whistling and Vivian started several sing alongs along the way. Despite the heat and humidity, a bicycle tour was a great way to see several areas of Bangkok.

After a long, hot day the cool ride on the subway to the hotel was welcome. It was also time to try a more western massage. It was a relaxing evening with drinks and dinner. Another wonderful day in Bangkok.

The only casualty of the tour was Greg’s sunglasses which were dropped or lost in the busy street market. A quick trip to a local shopping mall on our way back to the hotel easily found a new pair.